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Saturday, July 4, 2009

..Eternity..

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to Orlando for my roommate's wedding... Let me start off by saying that I love the temple... in fact, I am obsessed with the temple... The beauty of it, what it stands for, who's house it is, and what is done inside... all of these things bring joy and peace into my life... I'm probably one of the only 19 year olds that wants to live on the temple grounds doing nothing but missionary work... Thats my dream...

On Thursday, I met Blake and Shawn at the Institute after work and headed off to Orlando... What would have normally been a long ride was short, or so we thought it would be because of how great of time we were making, until we were on the turnpike and I forgot about the toll roads... We didn't have any cash in the car, so I had to do an IOU to the toll roads and the lady was incredibly mean... So asfter that we were trucking along and we got to where all of the major roads meet together over the turnpike and I thought I had to get off on the 429 because that is what I usually take to get from out old house in Leesburg to get to the temple... once I was on the ramp to get onto the 429 I realized that I was supposed to get off on 50 and started to freak out... I couldn't turn around until the next exit on the 429 which was a waaayyss down the road.... then to turn around we needed to pay another toll, andd Shawn said, "I have a $5 bill in my bag in the trunk," so I pulled over on the side of the major road and Shawn got the money... too bad that the toll happened to be an exact change only toll... and guess what... NO CHANGE in my car, well at least not 3 quarters for the 75 cents... so Blake said, "Lets throw random change that we can find into in until we reach 75 cents," while we do this, we repeat over and over, "The church is true, the book is blue, and Jesus loves you." We made quite a sight... After all of that, we finally roll into the temple parking lot around 10:30 pm and I met Kimmy and Rachel there...

... Kimmy and Rachel were at the front talking to this older man, so we drove into the circle drive and rolled down the window so we could talk to them... then the old man asked me, Blake, and Shawn what we were doing, and then asked us each a specific question... He asked me why I wasn't going through the temple, to which I told him that I wasn't endowed, and he said, "well why not?" and I told him, "because I'm 19, but I really want to be!" He told me that I needed to make that happen then no matter what... he also asked Blake and Shawn specific questions too.... well we told Kimmy and Rachel that we'd pull over to their car and told the man to have a good night and drove out of the circle drive and looked back and he was gone! GONE! Shawn, Blake, and I could not find him ANYWHERE! He just disappeared! Blake is convinced that he was an angel and that we all had to learn something from him... so of course we were all thinking of what he said to us... He told Kimmy and Rachel that him and his wife make a half of a heart with their hands every morning and put them together and then seperate them and tell eachother that even though they aren't with eachother during the day, that their hearts are always with the other... it was wayyy corney, but sweet... we pretty much used that all the time throughout the weekend...

So then we met Ceth there and I talk with him for a while, because I'm sooo excited and sad that he is leaving for his mission... his parents wouldn't let him go get food with us though because its like their almost last night with him... I don't blame them... We headed out from the temple to get food by the Mall at Millenia... seeing that is was like 11:30 at this point, nothing was really open... we went through the Wendy's drive through and ate at the McDonald's parking lot... that tells you how scatter-brained we all were by this point... Blake calls Ashby (the groom) to find out where they are staying that night with him... we were all under the impression that it was somewhere in Orlando close to the temple, so I would drop them off and head off to the Liljenquist house to stay the night.... well we were wrong... they were staying in St. Cloud... about an hour from the temple.... so I, being the loving and nice person that I am, drove them to St. Cloud, getting the guys there by 1:30 in the morning... I then had to drive from St. Cloud to Geneva, about an hour drive, landing Kimmy and I in bed at a little after 2:30 am... Well by that point, Kimmy and I couldn't really fall straight to sleep so we watch some tv and finally does off around 3:30ish in the mornin'... we woke up at 7:30 am to have enough time to get ready and do the hour drive to the temple....

Kimmy and I and Shawn waited outside (well it turned into inside) the temple until Lauren and Ashby came out... it was sooooooo so HOT! Lauren looked beautiful... soo happy and just soo excited about her new life with Ashby... that are in love and I wouldn't want to settle for anything less than what they have... We all walked around the grounds while they took pictures, and were forced to use the white umbrellas to shade ourselves... Pictures ended early becasue of it being so hot, so we just headed over to Panda Express for some grub, which ended up being incredibly disappointing... I was really sad over that... Then we all realized that we had at least 4 and a half hours until the reception in St. Cloud so we went to Mall at Millenia... Blake rolled his ankle a couple nights before and Kimmy and I were walking in heels, so walking around in the mall totally didn't help any at all! Thats when we decided to head back over to the Liljenquist's house to watch a movie and relax... I still wanted to get some stuff from the Church Bookstore, and Shawn totally didn't so he rode with Kimmy and Rachel, while Blake rode with me... It really wasn't a surprise to me when Blake and I managed to beat Kimmy and Rachel and Shawn back to the house by at least 10 minutes... They ended up going on a three hour tour =] Blake's grandma went to the hospital so we decided not to go to the recpetion and left for Tallahassee... this was around 7:30.... After yet another along car ride and plenty of heart-to-heart talks with Blake and Shawn, we arrived in Tally this morning at 12:30 am... thus ending the 600 + mile car trip in 30 hours...

Basically this weekend brought a lot of self discovery... I have been through some tough times recently, and I have learned more than ever to rely on my Heavenly Father and the Savior... I want nothing more than to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity to someone who REALLY loves me... someone who is my best friend and someone who lives to make sure I'm happy... I also have realized that we are sent to this earth to make an impact, in our own lives and within others... I have made many more friends within the past month and I really cherish those friendships as well as the ones that I have already have... I love the people that the Lord has/had put in my life... I am greatful for the trials and the blessings that I have recieved and for the strength that I am getting from them... I love the temple and all that it stands for and I love that when I finally do get to go through and I live righteously, I will be able to really live in my Heavenly Father's presence for eternity...